More on spanking in schools

My column in Friday’s print edition addresses Texas’ policy toward corporal punishment in public schools. Houston Rep. Alma Allen succeeded last session in amending state law to permit parents to opt out of corporal punishment for their children. I talked to her yesterday after the deadline for my column and she told me she will try again next session for a complete ban. Most large school districts in Texas do not permit “paddling,” but the practice is still very widespread. Retired Houston school teacher Jimmy Dunne, who also campaigns against paddling, shared these shocking photos of real-live results of corporal punishment in Texas schools.

Who gives Austin the authority to decide what goes on in a local school district? If a parent wishes to opt out, fine. But then every time the kid should have been spanked call the parent and make them come pick the kid up. Yep, make them leave work and take their child home so the others can learn. But quit pushing one size fits all. Austin isn’t a monarchy. Time to vote these liberals out.

For context I believe that capital punishment has a place in our justice system (just to let you know that I am not soft on dealing with really bad behavior) but I also believe that the only physical force that should be used against children in schools is the kind needed to restrain them from harming themselves or others if that is ever necessary. Beyond that their parents needs to get things on the right track or if that fails the criminal justice system or health care system if that is appropriate.

I think if parents want out of their kids being paddled they should be forced to attend school with their child for three days to see how they behave, If they refuse both….then they should keep th ekid at home until they are willing to go with them…

Spanking would not be an issue in school if parents did their job at home. I cannot count the times I have seen a parent blame everyone but their child–even when they were caught red-handed. What kind of punishment does Alma Allen think is permissible? Already legislators say too many kids are being ticketed, too many are being suspended, and too many are receiving in-school suspension. Rather than just take away a tool, the legislature should be coming up with a plan to deal with unruly, uncivil, and sometimes criminal behavior. Alma Allen and the legislature should be giving school help, not rhetoric.

the only thing i know is that when corporal punishment was allowed in school, there was DISCIPLINE.
if you add the removal of kids who do not want to learn, and cater to those that do, you would see a great improvement in the classroom.

It would like to hear Rep. Allen’s alternatives on how to discipline kids whose behavior is continously disruptive to the learning environment. It is a shame that our education system has been dumbed down to allow these types of kids to define the learning environment, at the expense of kids who really want to learn.

It sure would be nice to go back to the “what I got at school, I got twice at home” culture.

Yes, indeed, we need to go back to the good old days, the way it used to be. After all, it was so successful. By using physical violence on children to coerce them to behave the way adults want them to, we teach them that physical violence is how adults get their way. That has a spendid outcome. Just look around you. You’ll find that those who engage in physical violence as adults really learned that lesson well in their childhood. You remember the Biblical saying, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Did you know that the “rod” in question is the shephard’s rod, used to coax sheep in line, not to beat them. Follow that saying, and we will have much better chidren. There are countless ways to shape the behavior of children, was that work with the most incorrigible behavior. Physical violence, euphemistically called spanking, is not one of them. It is demonstrably clear that it does nothing toshape the behavior of children; it just inevitably alters adult behavior into violence.

Presidential Candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry only recently signed legislation, HB 359, giving Parents the RIGHT to Prohibit Pain to Punish Their Children in Schools!

Texas Schools Beat Students K-12 with thick wooden paddles Legally with several “School Paddling States” maintaining “Teacher Immunity Laws” to protect school teachers, coaches and administrators from criminal/civil charges leaving families with no legal redress when their children are injured by school punishment, Corporal Punishment is Illegal in Schools in 31 U.S. States!

“There are two Americas out there for young students right now – one where they go to school knowing that they’ll be guided positively by caring adults, and one where they live in constant fear of getting beaten,” said Rep. McCarthy, a member of the Committee on Education and Workforce.
Paddling is Bullying, Outlaw It, Says U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who introduced a federal bill to ban corporal punishment in American schools for the second time (H.R. 5628 Died in Congress 2010) on September 22, 2011.

“Bullying is enough of a problem among students; the teachers shouldn’t be doing it, too. There’s nothing positive or productive about corporal punishment,” McCarthy said on her House website.

The bill would ban paddling, spanking and all other forms of physical pain as punishment of students K-12.

Corporal Punishment in public schools is discriminatorily applied to boys, african american, disabled and low income students!

Punishment Injuries to America’s schoolchildren that Shock the Conscience as well as local, state and Federal Lawsuits are REAL!
Search “A Violent Education” by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU issued to U.S.Government Officials with recommendations for remedies on 8/20/08.

U.S. Federal Government is Grossly Negligent, allows Pain to Punish Students K-12, Illegal in Schools in 31 U.S. States, over half our nation, constituting “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” akin to allowing State and Local governments to legally permit Slavery!

Our federal, state and local lawmakers are failing in their constitutional duty to enact laws to ensure American children have the same legal protections against assault as adults!

Sorry, I don’t support that law. Kids needs some sort of punishment. They need to learn they cannot get away with whatever they want, and that is what our present society is teaching them. A lot of them have no fear of reprisal from anything they do, hence so much violence coming from out youths.